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To the average investor, there are a multitude of gauges market participants can use to track their holdings. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as useful, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the financial markets. There are a number of stimuli for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).

What does the smart money think about EZCORP Inc (NASDAQ:EZPW)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 20% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.

According to our 13F database, Private Capital Management, managed by Gregg J. Powers, holds the largest position in EZCORP Inc (NASDAQ:EZPW). Private Capital Management has a $35.1 million position in the stock, comprising 3.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by GMT Capital, managed by Thomas E. Claugus, which held a $30.6 million position; 0.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Peter S. Park’s Park West Asset Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

With a general bullishness amongst the titans, certain bigger names were breaking ground themselves. Private Capital Management, managed by Gregg J. Powers, established the most valuable position in EZCORP Inc (NASDAQ:EZPW). Private Capital Management had 35.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Thomas E. Claugus’s GMT Capital also made a $30.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new EZPW investors: Peter S. Park’s Park West Asset Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

How have insiders been trading EZCORP Inc (NASDAQ:EZPW)?

Bullish insider trading is most useful when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time frame, EZCORP Inc (NASDAQ:EZPW) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to EZCORP Inc (NASDAQ:EZPW). These stocks are Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ:FINL), OfficeMax Inc (NYSE:OMX), Francesca’s Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FRAN), and Office Depot Inc (NYSE:ODP). This group of stocks are the members of the specialty retail, other industry and their market caps are similar to EZPW’s market cap.